UCF Football struggled last season in their first year of the Big 12, finishing with a 6-7 overall record. While that record would be acceptable for most teams making the jump from G5 to P5, for Gus Malzhan, it wasn’t an acceptable record.
After more than a month of searching and trying to get the right coaching staff together, it seems like the Knights may finally have their full staff for 2024. Earlier in the month, they added Ted Roof to be the defensive coordinator, and today, Gus Malzhan announced that Tim Harris Jr. would be returning to the Knights as the Co-Offensive Coordinator and Receivers Coach.
Not Tim Harris Jr.’s First Time At UCF
Fans may remember that Harris Jr. was with UCF when Gus Malzhan first arrived in Orlando prior to the 2021 season. He stayed with the team for two seasons before leaving for one season to coach the running backs at Miami, which is also his hometown.
Following the announcement that he’d be returning, Mazhan said the following in a press conference:
“I’m excited to welcome Tim back to our staff,” UCF coach Gus Malzahn said. “He’s one of the best coaches and teachers of the game that I’ve worked with. Tim was a huge part of building our foundation in our first two years here and he’s a rising star in our profession.”
When at UCF for the first time, Harris served as the running backs coach (and co-offensive coordinator) and recruited players who ended up helping UCF have the 9th-best rushing attack in the nation in 2022. Being the receivers coach will be a new role, but with his experience as a co-offensive coordinator and head coach at the high school level and the fact that he already knows the Gus Malzhan offense, there is no reason to believe he won’t be successful.
Gus Malzhan Changing the Coaching Titles for UCF
Have you ever gotten onto LinkedIn and read people’s job titles and wondered what they actually do? For example, a ‘Supervising Sanitation Curator’ could just be a janitor who sometimes leads groups in cleaning projects. ‘City Sanitation Engineer’ could just be a trash collector. Any job at the P5 level of college football is impressive, but it seems like Malzhan has taken a few tips from LinkedIn.
Below are the new titles that coaches will have instead of the common title:
- The Offensive Coordinator is now the Senior Executive Offensive Coordinator.
- Co-Offensive Coordinator is now the Senior Offensive Coordinator
- The position Coach is now the Offensive/Defensive Coordinator
- An analyst is now an Associate Offensive/Defensive Coordinator
- Graduate Assistants are now Junior Associate Offensive/Defensive Coordinator
Outside of perhaps putting it on a resume or LinkedIn, the change in titles doesn’t likely mean responsibilities or pay will necessarily change. But, if it makes the GA, I mean Junior Associate Defensive Coordinator, feel more important and part of the staff, then it serves its purpose.
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